Precious Rose
by simplicity-0o1
Summary: Cagalli had once said that she wants to be surprised if she were to ever get proposed to. 'It has to be unique'. Many had tried, but none had succeeded. And even Athrun Zala, the coordinator with one of the greatest minds, was at lost on what to do. AxC


"You don't get it Kira," Athrun rattled on. "She wants me to **surprise** her. Do you realize how hard that would be? Especially after the fact that so many men had tried to propose to her? Heck, even _women_ had tried to propose to her!"

Athrun has been pacing around in the Yamato's hotel room for the pass hour. He had gone to Kira to ask for advice on how to propose to Cagalli.

"Well, Athrun, it's not as if I know how to propose to my own _sister_. I usually don't think of those kinds of things." Kira scratched his head.

"Kira, that doesn't really help. At least you have experience in this department. You already proposed to the girl who is happily sitting beside you," Athrun said, pointing to Lacus.

Kira and Lacus looked at each other and blushed.

"Well, Athrun, I'm not sure if this is any help, but I happen to know Cagalli likes roses," Lacus volunteered in her sweet voice as she got up from the couch and headed for the small kitchen.

Athrun paced around for a few more minutes, absorbing what Lacus had just said.

He suddenly came to a halt.

"Lacus, thank-you so much! I think I know what to do!"

He entered the kitchen, gave Lacus a small friendly hug, which caused Kira to practically growl at Athrun, and quickly left the Yamato's temporary residence.

**Precious Rose**

It's the night before Lacus' wedding and she was having the good o' bachelorette party.

Lacus had decided to have a slumber party with her girlfriends so she tried to keep the guests list small. The guest list consisted of Cagalli, Miriallia, Shiho, Lunamaria, and Meyrin. Lacus lives in PLANTs but had come down to ORB to have the wedding since the island was so beautiful. So that meant that Lacus had no place to hold her bachelorette party. Like, _please_, it's not as if she could hold it in her small hotel room. So Cagalli decided to offer the Athha manor as the party place.

Which, Lacus gladly accepted.

So they started off the party with a dinner.

(Where they started talking about their love lives)

Had a full spa treatment.

(While complaining about their boyfriends/fiancés)

And finally settled down to watch a movie in the manor living room.

(While exclaiming about how they want to be _that lucky bitch_ in the movie.)

Then, the doorbell rang.

The girls ignored it since the maid would be getting the door anyways.

A few minutes later, the maid came into the living room with a bouquet of white roses.

The girls gasped and decided to pause the movie, crowding around the maid.

"Lady Cagalli, this is for you." The maid handed the bouquet to Cagalli.

"What does it say?"

"Is there a card?"

"Who sent it to you?"

"Is it from Athrun?"

Questions were being thrown at Cagalli as the girls crowded around her.

"STOP!"

Silence filled the room.

Cagalli took a deep breath.

"It doesn't say anything, there's no card, I don't know who it's from, it better be from Athrun, and I don't remember what other questions you nosey parkers asked me."

"Doesn't white roses mean eternal love?" Lacus asked.

Cagalli nodded. Her mother had a book on flowers and their meanings. Cagalli had flipped through the book many times. So many that she could practically recite the whole book. There were a dozen roses in the bouquet. The number of roses in itself held its own meaning too.

'_Be mine'_

"More flowers for Lady Cagalli!" The maid announced from the door. Apparently, the doorbell had rung itself again.

The six girls exchanged glances. "Another one?" Cagalli murmured. "Why?"

The maid brought in two dozen roses. This time, the roses were so dark that they appear black.

The girls once again examined the roses.

"_'You are my obsession'_?" Lacus asked.

Cagalli nodded. Cagalli's fingers plucked off a petal.

"Well, that's…sorta…romantic," Shiho remarked while Lacus made a mental note to make sure that she teaches Athrun a lesson on the difference between being _romantic_ and _stalker-ish_.

"What does twenty-four roses mean, Cagalli-sama?" Luna asked.

"Forever yours."

"Awww…that's so sweet!" Meyrin commented.

The girls waited for fifteen minutes but the doorbell did not ring. So the girls went back to watching the movie while dreaming about how they would like to be _that lucky bitch _in the movie.

The maid came in again just after the movie they were watching ended. This time, the girls could hardly see her face because she was hidden under three bouquets of flowers.

The girls gathered around the maid and Shiho, Miriallia, and Lacus each took a bouquet so that the maid could breathe.

"Lady Cagalli, I found these on the porch because I was curious if there were going to be any more roses. I guess the person forgot to ring the doorbell this time when they dropped off the roses."

"Thank-you, Mrs. Thompson."

The maid bowed and quickly left the girls to ponder over the three bouquets. This time, the bouquets had an assorted amount of colours.

"Cagalli, what do thirty-six roses mean?" Miriallia asked.

"Remembering our romantic times." To herself, she added, "Not that we've truly had that many."

"And the assorted colours mean 'you are everything to me'?" Lacus guessed. And of course, she was right again. But each colour in the bouquets had its own special meaning.

Pink: 'Perfect happiness.'

Champagne: 'You are tender and loving.'

Peach: 'Enthusiasm.'

Lavender: 'Enchantment'

Coral: 'Desire.'

Orange: 'Passionate Interest.'

At last, as the girls trudged upstairs to prepare for bed. There was no point in trying to figure out more from the roses. Whatever Athrun (or whoever it was that sent her the roses) wished to say, he (it better be a he and _not_ a she) could explain it to her in person tomorrow.

While the other girls sang karaoke in Cagalli's room, she excused herself to take quick bath. She gratefully sank into the gently steaming water. The confusion of the night dissipated, smiling, she let herself relax against the metal tub.

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted her peace.

"Yes?" she called.

There was a moment's pause before one of her friends (Lacus) replied, "Cagalli, I think you should come out and take a look at this."

Cagalli sat up. "Why? Is something the matter?"

"Not exactly."

Stumbling from the bath, Cagalli snatched up her dressing robe and shrugged it on. Flinging the door open, she was quickly ushered towards her bedroom balcony by her friends. Outside her bedroom was her own personal garden which she could enter by using the stairwell leading from her balcony.

The sight that greeted her when see looked down was nine pots of red roses.

'_I love you.'_

Her bare feet led her down the staircase and onto the soft grass as she approached the showcase of flowers.

Nine dozen.

A hundred and eight roses.

'_Will you marry me?'_

"Oh, Athrun."

"Yes?"

Startled, Cagalli spun around. Wide-eyed, she stared at him. In his hands was a red long-stemmed rose.

Long-stemmed rose: _'My love runs deep and is long-lasting'_

Cagalli took a closer look at the rose. On its stem, was something that wrapped around it.

A ring.

It would appear as a red ruby ring, but if one takes a closer look at it, the ruby was carved out so delicately that it resembles a rose.

"You–you shouldn't be here. What happened to Kira's bachelor party?" She pulled her robe closer around her while his eyes remained discreetly fixed on her face.

Athrun chuckled at the question.

_**Flashback**_

"Athrun, I cannot believe you forced me to spend my **bachelor party** helping _you_ propose to my _sister_!"

"Well, Kira, if it's any consolation, I'll rent a hotel room for you and allow you to spend my bachelor party 'making babies' with Lacus."

_**End of flashback.**_

"I have my ways." Athrun grinned devilishly.

He stepped closer.

"I've asked you to marry me, Cagalli," he murmured, lifting a hand to caress her jaw. "What is your answer?"

Cagalli looked up at him dazedly for a moment.

"Yes." She whispered.

Athrun pulled off the ring on the stem and placed it on Cagalli's ring finger. Then he gave Cagalli the rose. His arms around her, he pulled Cagalli in for a kiss. A shiver was sent down her spine as she felt Athrun's warmth against her shaking body. Finally, he drew away.

"I love you, Athrun."

"I love you too, Cagalli. You are my most precious rose."

The five girls who observed the whole scene on the balcony sighed.

One thought was on all their minds.

'I want to be_ that lucky bitch_ in the garden'

* * *

**Disclaimer**: Don't own it. 

**Author's Notes**: okay, I guess you can say I'm totally obsessed about the meaning of objects and using them to propose since I just did a oneshot on the meaning of gems. But I just can't help myself…(shrugs and gives you a sheepish grin). Don't worry, this would probably be my last time using this kinda idea. Repetitive crap is very boring. And I don't want to be boring. Not to mention I don't think I can find any other objects that I can use for this idea. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about right now, check out my other story "More Than a Diamond" and you'd get it)

Anyways, that's it for now.

Thanks for reading!

And hope you enjoyed it!

Drop in a review if you have the time.

Tootle loo!


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